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May 17, 2025

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

Point of View From and Fuller Spy Highlights

From and Fuller: Trump’s Big Beautiful 747 and Spotting Democratic Early Birds

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Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.

This week, Al and Craig dive into the political and ethical controversy surrounding President Donald Trump’s acceptance of a used Boeing 747 from the Qatari government as a potential replacement for the aging Air Force One. They also discuss the expanding field of Democratic presidential hopefuls making early moves in key primary states like New Hampshire and Iowa.

This video podcast is approximately 20 minutes in length.

To listen to the audio podcast version, please use this link:

Background

While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.

The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.

Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”

Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors. He is the author of “New Democrats and the Return to Power.”

For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.

Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last eight years, where he now chairs the board of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and is a former board member of the Academy Art Museum and Benedictine.  He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors and writes an e-newsletter available by clicking on DECADE SEVEN.

With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Character Rot: Sounding the Alarm by Johnny O’Brien

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Most of us are aware of the damage Donald Trump is doing to government service, freedom of expression, our universities, and democracy. And the moral decay our “national role model” is inflicting upon America with his daily lying, greed, spite, and vindictiveness.

But most of us are less aware of the grave threat Trump and his spineless minions represent to our precious children, just by broadcasting his malignant narcissism every day. It is not too early to sound the alarm.

For starters, just picture our vulnerable teens bombarded by their commander-in-chief, who rules as a greedy, lawless king—where kindness, honesty, humility, and cooperation are for “suckers and losers.” Our kids, with their online tools and savvy, know this. They see and hear it every day. The most powerful leader in the world (their “leader”) is trashing the most sacred values that have defined America since its founding.

And to what effect on our coming-of-age children? At a minimum, confusion about what behavior or character counts. More frequently, they embrace the loss of moral guardrails and behave (as in Golding’s Lord of the Flies) any way they want.

This is not a theory. I first saw it recently at a boarding school for needy children I once led. It has over 2,000 students and prides itself on building character. Just four months into Trump’s leadership model, more students are flouting rules and debasing their school’s Sacred Values.

When challenged, responses include:

  • “Why should I be kind to a weak classmate?”

  • “Why do I need to tell the truth?”

  • “Why should I share credit with a teammate?”

The school’s Sacred Values—like Integrity and Mutual Trust—are being routinely tested.

Note: These behaviors seem to be more manifest in boys, who are more likely to challenge norms and authority (and who already have excessive learning difficulties these days). And, BTW, where were these teens during Trump’s first term? In late elementary and early middle school, where early character formation is founded.

What fate, then, for our children and their character? What is the future for the sacred values of our critical institutions?

Awareness of a real and present danger is always the first step to combating a serious threat. “This too will pass” is not a sufficient response to 8–12 years of socially induced character decay.

Such a grave challenge will fall first to our parents… and then to our teachers and coaches, who influence behavior the most. And then to our community, church, and political leaders—who, when organized, can effectively resist the moral decay.

But also to each of us who care about America’s character and the moral fiber of our children—those of us who still value kindness, honesty, and the greater common good, and do not want our young folks to become the “Greedy Me Generation.”

Johnny O’Brien is a former president of the Milton Hershey School and its first alumnus to lead the institution. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised at the school and graduated in 1961 before earning a degree from Princeton University and pursuing graduate studies at Johns Hopkins. O’Brien later founded Renaissance Leadership, a firm that coached executives at major corporations. In 2003, he returned to Hershey as its president. He is also the author of Semisweet: An Orphan’s Journey Through the School the Hersheys Built, and currently lives in Easton.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

“Through the Looking Glass” by Al Sikes

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It is hard to know where to start, so let me do so with a warning. My thoughts include a promotion. A promotion to look beyond the obvious.

My part-time work in high school included a gig helping a Disc Jockey at the local radio station—specifically KSIM at 1400 on the AM dial in Sikeston, Missouri. My last two jobs were navigating the analog/digital divide in government and business.

My high school job was to retrieve records during a call-in record show. Now, of course, databases dictate what is played—the human factor is collectivized. Or, you bypass radio altogether and go directly to Spotify, where you have curated (the word of the day that has lost its meaning) your own playlist. And I suspect today if you engage on radio you don’t call, you text. Pardon the interruption.

But, now that is the way the world works—technology creates, destroys, and often stands in between. How many of you rent movies from Blockbuster or get movies in the mail from Netflix? Or watch the movie of the week on network TV?

How many of you rely on broadcasting with attendant radio and TV networks for your distractions? Incidentally, in the old days if you wanted to listen to music on the radio, you had to listen to a news segment. It was required as a part of the broadcast license.

Much of the media business is the distraction business. And today when relationships drift toward being  distractions their replacements become primary. Implications?

So let me dress up as a distraction. News distracts us from our daily routine. It generally happens elsewhere and is rarely all that good. News is a good distraction in a democracy but in recent years it has been largely replaced by political themes. Podcasters discover bias, program to it, and call it news delivering it to various electronic devices we carry around.

Create and destroy. Maybe one day probing newscasts delivered by real journalists will reappear. One can hope. In the meantime, much of the creative community who want to use their talents in unbiased news coverage find demand for their talents diminishing by the day.

If you watch news on TV, it is likely you are overwhelmed with products for, let me say, older people. And try finding a real newspaper that covers your community. The metaverse took over classified advertising and newspapers began to deteriorate and then die.

I could go on and will. I have a Chesapeake Forum gig in early June and am looking forward to going through the “looking glass” to discuss the social and cultural implications of destruction and replacement.

Topics will include the implications of society’s device fixation. And, social media and texting replacing conversation and much else.

And, as noted, the replacement of the media we grew up with. Encyclopedias have been replaced by accumulations that change minute by minute. The disappearance of editing as news is a tweet away.

And not wanting to leave anything out of this tease, think about databases—the stuff of the cloud. How do we protect ourselves and how does our government protect us from being found out or shut down? Or the ubiquity of porn? Or the addiction of games?

And I will throw in “free speech” and its constitutional protection. Exceptions needed for the new world?

I suspect most of you will just stay home. Understandable. Existential questions interfere with sleep and defy remedy. And maybe artificial intelligence will decide what human reasoning cannot. Talk about “through the looking glass.”

Regardless, the world is changing, and horror of horrors: it’s hard to turn off this fact.

If you want to learn more and participate further in this discussion, join me with Chesapeake Forum lifelong learners.  You can learn more and register for the course here.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

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The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Life Lessons: Perseverance By Angela Rieck

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In business we talk about the four stages of a group’s development: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.

The first stage, forming, is the initial stage where the group is being put together, team members join, and they establish the mission, goals and general ground rules. There’s a focus on learning about roles, expectations, and getting to know each other. This is one of the exciting phases, when all is new and possible. 

The second stage, storming, is when the group first begins and roles are new, there may be conflict or disagreement as people test the waters and see who has responsibility. There is also an air of excitement as group members join and drop out depending on the situation. 

At the norming stage, most conflicts are resolved, rules and goals are set, role responsibilities are clearer, and norms begin to be established. Team members begin to work more cohesively. 

The final stage, performing, the team has reached its “steady state” and is its most productive, focused on achieving goals, and collaborating effectively. 

However, I believe that there is more to the performing phase of group development, and in my opinion, that is the most important. Perseverance. 

Perseverance is our effort to achieve something despite difficulties, setbacks, or opposition. It’s the quality of sticking with something until it’s finished, even when it’s challenging. Essentially, it’s the ability to keep going, especially when we want to quit.

I am reading the book How We Learn to Be Brave by Mariann Budde. You may know her as the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, courageous enough to speak her values when challenged.

In one of her chapters she covers perseverance, the ability to fail and not quit, the ability to learn from mistakes and continue on. She describes her own mistakes and those of Madeline Albright and how Dr. Albright learned to recognize and attempt to fix her mistakes as she persevered despite criticism and frustration. In her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir (a whopping 920 pages), she wrote a paragraph about perseverance so powerful …my words cannot do it justice.

I have spent a lifetime looking for remedies for all manner of life’s problems, personal, social, political, global. I believe that we can recognize truth when we see it, just not at first and not without ever relenting in our effort to know more. This is because the goal we see and the good we hope for comes not as a final reward, but as the hidden companion to our quest. It is not what we find, but the reason we cannot stop looking and striving that tells us why we are here.

Perseverance is the hardest part of any process. When we see a group member frustrating the group’s ambitions, it is easy to quit or shut down rather than try to work through it. When we make our own mistakes, it is hard to own up to them in the group. Perseverance is when we want to walk away, but we know that we need to stay.

In her book, Budde talks about her own experience. She arrived at her dream church, a church that was growing, vibrant and committed to social justice; only to find that underneath this success were relationship, leadership, and infrastructure issues. She had to go through the difficult process of helping the leadership and getting funding for infrastructure, a necessary but challenging part of church leadership.

Perseverance applies not just to groups or work but also to ourselves in our everyday life, especially with relationships. Marriages, friendships, and family have their ups and downs. And if we don’t persevere, then we can lose them. Once they are lost, they could be lost forever. I have my own regrets about letting friends go when we got to difficult places. 

There is no trick to persevering, it is simply not letting temporary roadblocks become permanent. Remembering why we had a relationship in the first place before the differences and squabbles emerged. Sometimes it takes a cooling off period, but that can become permanent if we don’t persevere.

One of the secrets to a happy life is one full of friends and family. And, in most cases, that requires plain old perseverance.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michael’s and Key West, Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A Conservative Look at the Trump Tariff Policy by David Montgomery

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Editor’s Note. The Spy is pleased to welcome David Montgomery back as a contributor. When the Talbot Spy launched in 2009, David was one of our first political columnists—widely read, often provocative, and a thoughtful voice for socially conservative views. Well before his move to Talbot County, David was a respected figure in Washington, D.C. as he built his reputation as a lead economist at the Congressional Budget Office and later as a private consultant. His work on federal spending models and his successful advocacy for California’s cap-and-trade policy have impacted national environmental and fiscal policy. In his return to the Spy, David will focus on the economic challenges of our times.

I am now more puzzled than ever by the goals of President Trump’s tariff policies. He is now reducing tariffs on China in exchange for China’s offer to reduce tariffs and open its markets to US businesses.  He has announced ongoing negotiations with some 80 other countries to reduce tariffs on both sides.  China is looking like just another trading partner that has tariffs higher than ours.

There are three textbook objectives that might be pursued through tariff policy. They are strategic, retaliatory, and protectionist.  

Strategic tariffs are directed at specific countries and or industries which are deemed to be critical to national security. Thus, the United States should be reducing its reliance on China for certain rare minerals.  Likewise, any components for warfighting equipment that are now sourced from China should be switched to domestic suppliers.  This objective has always been a legitimate purpose for tariffs, but they should be selective and high—or just a ban on imports.  I thought China was the target of strategic tariffs, and I never questioned that such tariffs were in general needed. When it comes to implementing that policy, the specifics of how rapidly we could disengage our supply chains from Chinese sources needed to be considered before setting tariffs arbitrarily high.

Now it appears that we are treating China just like Europe and other countries on which we set retaliatory tariffs‚ that is, tariffs designed to match the tariffs imposed on us by our trading partners. The goal in imposing such tariffs is not necessarily to shrink trade, rather it is to put US industries on an equal footing with industries protected by tariffs of our trading partners. That is a fine objective and beneficial to both countries. The very high tariffs that Trump imposed initially seemed to have brought many countries to the negotiating table. 

If we can achieve a mutual reduction in tariffs and trade barriers with allies, articularly Europe, Japan and Korea, it will benefit both countries.  There will be more demand for goods from US industries that have been priced out of protected markets, and our trading partners will get goods for their consumers at lower cost than they could produce domestically.  That outcome could also help with our broader goal of improving manufacturing wages and output.

So now I am puzzled.   What is our objective for managing trade with China?  The current dramatic reductions suggest that the President is not pursuing a strategy of reducing trade with China for strategic reasons, he was just threatening them to get them to line up like Europe and other countries to reduce their barriers to trade. That, or this is a purely political move to deal with the stock market carnage that the high tariffs produced.  

I really hope that Walmart has not won again on this one. We do need to disengage from trade with China on goods like strategic minerals and electronics. We might not need 145% tariffs on all Chinese goods but we certainly need even more on some. 

That also lets me touch briefly on the third reason for tariffs, which I characterized as protectionist. These are tariffs designed to protect specific industries and encourage their growth here in the US. Protectionism goes further than reducing barriers to exports, though that helps.

I can enthusiastically support economic policies that are designed to recreate the traditional American family. That is, whose objective is to make it possible again for one man to provide for his wife and multiple children on one income, so that the nuclear family headed by a wife living at home, can once again become the norm. 

The plan articulated by JD Vance is that the manufacturing sector, and with it jobs that do not require expensive college education, must expand to provide that kind of income to families. I doubt that current scattershot tariff policy, or even a combination of policies likely to be implemented in this administration, would be sufficient to achieve this goal. I have a lot more hope that it could all be put together in eight years of a JD Vance administration.

The start toward this goal is protective tariffs, either for the manufacturing sector as a whole or for particular industries, not just large enough to overcome the advantage that countries like China have due to cheap or, in China’s case, forced labor. Tariffs on China probably should be 150% or more to achieve this goal–Robert Lighthizer recommends 200 to 300%–in order to increase both wages and output in US manufacturing.  Unfortunately, the same economic reasoning applies to South Korea and Japan. On top of that, protection would have to be applies to many more carefully chosen sectors to greatly improve the economic status for couples that are struggling to find a way to buy a home, have children and raise them well. Anyway, this beguiling part of the Trump economic plan has not been visible in any of his specific moves on tariffs.

So I am puzzled about what the 40 or 60 or 80 current negotiations on tariffs are intended to accomplish. In the case of China, the only serious antagonist with whom trade, we seem to be abandoning the strategic objective in favor of convincing China to eliminate tariffs and other barriers to exports from the US (a tiny fraction of imports from China) while doing nothing to reduce the flow of goods to the US from China. 

In any event, I doubt that any agreement to open China’s markets is enforceable. China has had thousands of years to figure out how to cheat on any agreement. The opacity of China’s economy means it could find ways to block US investment and exports, even after agreeing to everything that President Trump might demand.  It’s not even “trust but verify” with China. It’s more like “never trust because it’s impossible to verify”.  If we do perceive that US companies remain unable to sell in China, the tit-for-tat response would be to return to the 175% tariffs of a week ago. That at least should gain some strategic benefits, and might be implemented through incremental increases that give supply chains time to adjust.

We may or may not gain any tariff reductions out of current negotiations with China.  Just going into these negotiations to mutually reduce tariffs makes me doubt whether the current round is intended to reduce our strategic vulnerability on China. By reducing tariffs across the board we have given on the effort to shift specific supply chains with national security significance out of China is now being treated as just another trading partner with whom we are working things out. 

I’m also not seeing any efforts toward the goal that appealed to me, which is renewing good jobs that will support the old-fashioned family with all its social and moral benefits.  

Getting back to my introduction, it is not clear what objective President Trump is pursuing in the current trade negotiations.  

David Montgomery was formerly Senior Vice President of NERA Economic Consulting. He also served as assistant director of the US Congressional Budget Office and deputy assistant secretary for policy in the US Department of Energy. He taught economics at the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University and was a senior fellow at Resources for the Future. He currently serves as councilmember for Ward 3 on the Town of Easton Council. 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A Master Class in Music Appreciation at the Prager by Maria Grant

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We on the Eastern Shore sometimes fail to appreciate how lucky we are to have so many opportunities to listen to world-class music. Last Saturday’s concert at Easton’s Ebenezer Theater was a prime example of our good fortune. 

James Ehnes starred in Stradivari Nights accompanied by pianist Orion Weiss. The result was truly wondrous music flawlessly performed. 

Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius violin of 1715. He performs in concert halls around the world, including at Carnegie Hall, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, and Munich Philharmonic. He was the artist-in-residence with the National Arts Centre of Canada and an artistic partner with Artis-Naples. Ehnes began his violin studies at age five, was a protégé of Canadian violinist, Francis Chaplin at age 13, attended Juilliard, and has won many music awards, including two Grammy Awards. He currently is a professor of practice in violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. 

Orion Weiss is an American classical pianist and one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborists of his generation. Weiss studied at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City and graduated from Juilliard, where he studied under Emanuel Ax. He has performed with many major orchestras of North America, as well as many around the world. Weiss released the final album in his recital trilogy called Arc III in 2025. One of Weiss’ greatest claims to fame is that he was asked with less than 24 hours’ notice to replace Andre Watts for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The response was so overwhelming he was immediately asked to return for a Tchaikovsky performance later that year. 

 Last Saturday’s performance at the Ebenezer included Bach’s Violin Sonata in C minor BWV 1024, a work with considerable depth and complexity; Korngold’s Suite from Much Ado about Nothing, op. 11, a work with four movements each of which captures different aspects of Shakespeare’s play;  and my favorite, Grieg’s Violin Sonata No 3, Op. 45, a work with three movements that is characterized by a strong romantic style with overtones of Norwegian folk influences and often considered Grieg’s most mature work. 

The love, commitment, and mastery that Ehnes and Weiss had for this music was on full display during this glorious concert. The evening concluded with a well-deserved standing ovation and an encore performance of one of Korngold’s opera arias, a rare treat indeed.

A huge shoutout to Paul and Joanne Prager and Gabriela Montero for making these sensational concerts possible in the exceptional Ebenezer theater. We are beyond privileged to have access to these superb musical experiences right here in Easton. 

Be sure to check out two additional concerts in the series: Summertime with Gershwin with Paul Merkelo on June 28, and Night at the Opera with Michael Fabiano on July 5. 

Also, tickets for Chesapeake Music’s 2025 Chamber Music Festival held from June 6 through 14 at the Ebenezer Theater, are currently on sale at ChesapeakeMusic.org. These concerts feature world-class performers, rising stars, and members of the world-renowned illustrious Juilliard String Quartet. 

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

This Crazy World By Jamie Kirkpatrick

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Well, friends, the world sure got a little crazier since I was here last week. I mean, can you believe it? The new Pope is an American, and from the South Side of Chicago, no less! Pope Leo XIV may have spent a third of his life serving the people of Peru, and another third of his life deep in the quiet recesses of the Vatican, but c’mon: the White Sox haven’t looked this good since Shoeless Joe Jackson was in the lineup!

Meanwhile, over at the White House, Santa Clause apparently no longer resides at the North Pole but instead in Doha, Qatar, and he just delivered an early Christmas gift to the President: a brand, spanking new Air Force One that comes with absolutely no strings attached, even to the reindeer who’ll be pulling it on countless trips to Mr. Trump’s personal golf properties or down to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend! Thank you, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and a very merry Christmas to you, too!

Closer to home, our very own little property here on the Eastern Shore continued to observe its own special Mother’s Day tradition. We call Mother’s Day “Mulching Day” and we celebrate it by loading eleven inordinately heavy bags of black mulch into the back of the car, then unloading and opening the same into several iterations of a broken plastic wheelbarrow so that my wife—mother of two, grandmother of eight—can spread it all around the back and front yards under my patient and loving supervision. We also planted four new boxwoods in front of the porch, a new row of white begonias in front of them, and all kinds of bright new flowers in the big stone planters by the front steps. The lawn got mowed (I did that!), and another large bag of weeds went out to the curb, ready for pickup. My back is tired and my fingernails are dirty. Believe me: it’s not easy being a supervisor!

But then, of course, we had to clean up. We put away all the tools (which really means we had to reorganize the shed again), swept another dune of pollen off the porch, and recoiled at least a mile-and-a-half of garden hose because, as I’m sure you know, no project is really ever done until there’s no evidence there was a project in the first place. We aim for the appearance of effortless upkeep, a skill many dream of, but only a lucky few ever master.

But I have to say: I love seeing our house emerge from its annual winter doldrums and step sprightly into spring. Apparently, passersby do, too. My wife is far too modest to boast about all her hard work, but I enjoy basking in the glow of all the compliments we get from the folk who stop to admire her handiwork. I just flick a little water on my face to make it look like I’m sweaty and humbly accept the kudos they toss over the fence. “Yes; it really does look nice, doesn’t it? Thank you!”

And meanwhile, this crazy world continues to spin. This just in: remember those 145% tariffs the President imposed on China? Well, they just got slashed to 30% because “neither side wanted a decoupling.” Even Shoeless Joe wouldn’t take that bet!

So stay tuned: it really is a crazy world out there! I wonder what’s next…

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His most recent novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon and in local bookstores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Balancing the Maryland Budget in Extraordinary Times by Hugh Panero

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Balancing the state budget in extraordinary times is hard. It is an ugly game of Whack-a-Mole. A large percentage of the expenses are baked into the budget based on prior legislative initiatives. Then, you take a whack at projecting revenue during a weak economy, manage the General Fund, which consists of revenue not dedicated to a specific purpose, and the Special Fund, which is dedicated to particular purposes. After a few more whacks at capital costs, you wrestle with budget cuts, and adding more revenue through tax modifications and increasing fees.

Then you factor in what the crazy guy in the White House is doing to the economy and the federal government, and how that will impact Maryland. Good luck with that. 

This is why being Governor is not easy. You struggle with challenging issues that require balancing various human and financial priorities while protecting the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, at the federal level, the GOP wants to cut such programs to fund a tax cut extension for the wealthy, adding trillions to the national debt. It is always rich when billionaires getting a tax cut ask everyone else to do more with less.

Another grim reality has also set in. Marylanders, including myself, have taken for granted the economic benefits afforded to Maryland due to its proximity to the federal government. Unfortunately, we are now experiencing the painful flip side of that coin as we watch the White House drop several nuclear financial bombs with a blast radius and shock wave that hits Maryland first and hardest.

The thoughtless gutting of the federal government has significantly added to Maryland’s financial problems. There are 160,000 federal workers in the state, many of whom own or rent homes in Maryland, pay taxes, and spend money, which helps fuel the state economy. Think of all the businesses and people you know, lawyers, lobbyists, contractors, scientists, and real estate professionals who provide services directly or indirectly to the federal government. Now, imagine a 30,000 reduction in federal workers who live in Maryland and its impact on our state. 

Critics of the state budget are angry at Moore and the General Assembly for tax increases that were part of a difficult effort to balance the $67 billion 2025 budget. The budget included $1.6 billion in tax and fee increases and $2 billion in spending reductions to address the $3.3 billion budget deficit. Some even called for a DOGEing of Maryland’s government institutions and “scared cows”. We have seen how badly that has worked out at the federal level.   

I supported Governor Moore and voted for Hogan twice. Nobody likes tax increases, including the Governor, but balancing any budget with a $3.3 billion deficit is challenging. Criticizing how he did it is fair game, but it’s easy when you’re not in the room doing the math. For example, I would have liked to have seen a reduction in the corporate tax, but realize when you are turning  over rocks looking for revenue, its hard to give up a chunk.

Some Republicans fantasize about Hogan running again for Governor in 2026 against Moore. Hogan fanboys and GOP strategists would love to brand Moore as a tax-and-spend Democrat, which is unfair. Serious problems are impacting Maryland, and issues like slow business growth have existed for a decade, during Hogan’s two terms and Moore’s short tenure in office. Members of both parties have acknowledged this, so let’s focus on the six key budget challenges ahead.

1- Maryland’s economy is stagnant and must improve. Last year, Comptroller Brooke Lierman issued a State of the Economy Report. Maryland’s economy began slowing in 2017 and rebounded sluggishly from COVID-19. At the time, she reported low unemployment of 1.8%, which today is 3% and will be further impacted by federal workforce reductions. Our state relies too heavily on the federal government (the top employer) to drive our economy, and we need more private sector jobs and business income. Maryland’s average household income was a healthy $108,200, ranking high nationally. Unfortunately, Maryland’s overall economy underperforms. GDP growth (personal income, real wages, and population growth) from 2016-2023 was only 1.6%, which lags behind our neighbors (PA & VA) and the US. The state’s population in 2024 was about 6.3 million, a 0.74% increase compared to 2023. And while many people move here from states with a higher cost of living, we lose people, including higher earners, who leave Maryland for less expensive states. 

2- Trump’s budget, tariffs, and other actions severely harm the State. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson recently said that Trump’s budget could result in an additional $430 million in federal cuts to the state. Trump’s tariff war will also result in thousands of small businesses in Maryland going bankrupt unless he finds an off-ramp. Since Trump took office, the stock market has lost trillions of dollars, damaging 401(k)s. It is also unclear if the federal government will support future funding for the Key Bridge rebuild and other Maryland capital projects available under the Biden administration. Do you remember when the worst thing Trump did to Maryland was kill the plan to build a new FBI building in Greenbelt, MD?

3- The debate about the so-called $5 billion “Surplus” handed over to Moore by Hogan is a waste of time. Lots of Federal COVID-19 money flowed into the state, which camouflaged weaknesses in the state’s economy. I assume Hogan did not know this was a fading Covid hangover surplus. I also realize Hogan had nothing to gain by reframing the reality of the surplus while running for the Senate. Also, our business-oriented Governor Moore, the General Assembly, and an accountant should have recognized the bogus nature of the surplus sooner. 

4- Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The expensive 10-year education reform plan is a financial problem. Democrats own this plan. It was recently funded for two years ($70 million next year and $100 million the year after). Beyond that, it will be funded through the state’s General Fund, which, according to a recent Maryland Matters article, has a projected deficit of up to $3 billion by fiscal year 2030. How Moore handles this issue will be another big test. You can’t do everything. In its current form, the plan is tough on rural communities with limited resources that have been further strained as the state has pushed down other costs to the counties.

5- Medicaid Costs. As reported in the Baltimore Sun, Maryland’s share of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIPS) covers roughly 1.6 million people, including long-term care coverage for low-income children, pregnant women, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities, costing about $4 billion annually. The big unknown is how federal cuts to entitlement programs will impact Maryland and other states, especially if the GOP forces states to bear more of the expense.   

6- Bond Rating Fiscal Status. A fellow Spy columnist, David Reel, recently focused attention on Maryland’s fragile bond rating, highlighting Moody’s downgrade of Maryland’s fiscal outlook from stable to negative. The Moody downgrade said, “Maryland ranks near the top for risk from changing federal priorities and policies.” Maryland Matters said, “The report highlights three factors: Federal unemployment, existing budget deficits, and concentrated federal grant funding.” It might be a while before Maryland’s AA bond rating bumps to AAA. Standard and Poors issued a negative outlook for outstanding revenue bonds issued by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDAT), which finances new transportation projects like bridges, tunnels, and the rebuilding ($1.8 billion estimate) of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. What will happen if Trump pulls federal funding for the Key Bridge?   

Things will likely worsen before they improve, especially if Trump drives us into a recession. The current budget cycle sidestepped more painful future cuts to the Blueprint Reform plan. Democrats must take a scalpel to the plan during the next budget cycle. With so many unknowns, Governor Moore will have to be tighter on controlling costs and veto bills from the General Assembly, controlled by his party, that the state cannot afford.

One of the best things Marylanders can do to help themselves is help Democrats win the House in the midterm elections and stop Trump’s reckless actions that will hurt Maryland. 

 Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder and former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

 Tenants of the Heart By Laura J. Oliver

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What’s worse than spotting a quarter-sized spider on the ceiling above your bed as you turn out the light?

Instantly switching the lamp back on to discover he’s gone.

How will you know in the morning he didn’t crawl out the window? The idiotic scenario your half-asleep partner tried to sell as you high-stepped on the mattress clutching a paper towel?

Each itchy red bite on your shoulder will have two tiny punctures, not one.

Spider-fun-fact.

When I was about six, and we still lived at Barnstead, the house my parents built by renovating a barn, there were plenty of creatures that bit, stung, or were just generally gross when hopping across the wide wood planks of my bedroom floor at night. Knowing the distinction was a matter of experience in which we kids took pride. When the neighbors invited cousins from Baltimore to visit (kids with very white feet, who called minnies “minnows”), those interlopers got more side-eye than sympathy upon shrieking, “I got bit by a bee!”

“Bit by a bee,” we’d repeat with an eye-roll.

The first time I was bitten at the Barn I was about five, playing out by the white wood rail fence that led down to the river. I’d seen a soft tunnel of mounded dirt and had decided, as one does, to poke a stick in it. Only a few inches down, I encountered a soft gray vole. Delighted with my find, I picked the creature up, and it promptly sunk its tiny, beaver-like teeth into my thumb. I yelped in disbelief—unable to reconcile my harmless intentions with the unwarranted aggression. I ran back to the house to show my mother my wound, but she barely glanced from the kitchen sink. She was seldom alarmed if you still had a pulse.

Our cat was a biter, too. Kimmie was a demented Siamese who liked to hide under the Early American sofa skirt at bedtime, lying in wait for bare, little-girl feet to make a run across the braided rug for the stairs. She’d streak out from her hiding place, wrap her front legs around the closest bare ankle, and sink her teeth in, back claws thrumming and latched on with the diabolical tenacity of an ankle monitor.

We talked about the possibility of being bitten by a snake; there were plenty of them in the pasture and pine woods (and one in the clothes dryer), and I often wondered if I’d actually suck the venom out of my sister’s leg should such a crisis arise or alternatively, thank her for her model horse collection and take off for the house.

But the worst biting incident was our own dog and one of the neighbor’s visiting cousins. Stormy was a German Shepherd pup named for my father’s dog as a boy growing up in Illinois—the loyal companion who, badly injured, had waited for Dad to return home from school to die.

My mother was walking our Stormy on a leash, on our own beach, when a little girl visiting from next door, crossed the property line uninvited, rushed up to the dog, and reached out to touch his face.

Startled, not yet thoroughly socialized, and perhaps protective of my mother on the other end of the lead, Stormy instinctively snapped at the child, leaving a bite just below her eye.

Chaos ensued. Face wounds bleed a lot. The neighbors threw the wailing child in a car to make a mad dash for the hospital; the fan belt broke, it was a hot July afternoon, and I don’t know how she finally got there. Pretty sure she needed stitches, and we needed a lawyer we didn’t have when her parents sued. We needed money we couldn’t spare when they won $600 and a demand that our dog, on a leash, on his own property, be put down.

I would come to see my mother cry three more times before I was 12, before we moved from the river. But the first time you see a parent cry is the worst, I think.  When they took Stormy away, Mom told me he was going to police school, but she wouldn’t let me see her face when she said it.

It’s a funny thing how mothers will literally throw themselves in front of a moving train to save their child, but there is less written about what a child would do to save her mother. To make her happy. To never see her cry again.

She might take on a profession she would not have otherwise considered. She might live in a town she’d rather leave. She might live her life on a river and always wonder about mountains. She might marry a young man with the right stuff Mom approved of and wonder what happened to the bad boy with the six-string guitar and gold Mustang. The boy leaving for Scotland who wanted her to skip college and come with him.

It’s a rite of passage, I guess. Coming to be grateful for your parents’ influence. Realizing parents cry, mothers’ hearts break. That you will one day want to protect the one who protected you.

When I was newly married and very young, I used to imagine that my husband and my mother were both drowning, and I could only save one. I agonized over my choice.

I know, I know. Who does this???

I felt this was a test I had to pass—a question to which I had to know the answer. I felt as if I had to break my heart open to see who resided there.

I am less black and white these days, and the heart’s occupancy and weight restrictions are without limitations.

No matter who resides there now, dear reader, no matter how many people you love and how many love you, for all of us, there first was a mother.

Laura J. Oliver is an award-winning developmental book editor and writing coach, who has taught writing at the University of Maryland and St. John’s College. She is the author of The Story Within (Penguin Random House). Co-creator of The Writing Intensive at St. John’s College, she is the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Fiction, an Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, a two-time Glimmer Train Short Fiction finalist, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her website can be found here.

 

 

 

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Democrats… This Time, You May Have a Real Choice by Clayton Mitchell

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For years, Democratic voters in Maryland have been asked to fall in line. You are told who the frontrunner is. You are handed the talking points. You are expected to get excited about style over substance, slogans over solutions. And if you question the machine’s chosen candidate, you are labeled a traitor to the cause.

But not this time.

This time, you may have a real choice.

Veteran businessman Ed Hale is not a polished career politician or a darling of the Annapolis donor circuit. He is a businessman, a job creator, and a Blue Dog Democrat who knows how the real world works. He has balanced budgets in the boardroom, not on a spreadsheet filled with gimmicks. He has met a payroll. He has had to make hard decisions when the economy turned south, not issue a press release and wait for someone else to clean up the mess.

In short, Ed Hale is the adult in the room.

While Governor Wes Moore continues to govern by press conference—rolling out sweeping mandates like the state’s 100% clean energy deadline without a viable plan to protect working families from skyrocketing utility costs—Ed Hale brings a practical, clear-eyed approach. Moore tells Marylanders what sounds good. Hale tells them what will actually work.

As sure as the sun rises in the morning, the structural deficit will rear its ugly head again in January 2026. Governor Moore has not shown the intestinal fortitude to cut the budget to levels in proportion to economic reality. On the opening day of the session in 2026, the governor will open up the cash drawer and find it empty. 

Governor Moore faces increasing mandatory Kirwan funding obligations, mounting payments for child-abuse settlements stemming from juvenile justice failures, and ballooning energy costs due to the importation of electricity from other states—a consequence of his misplaced green energy agenda. Ed Hale will not put up with this. He understands that government must live within its means, just as families and businesses do.

Moore soared into office on the wings of charisma and a compelling personal story—but he has governed like a progressive influencer rather than a practical executive. His administration has prioritized performative politics and lofty rhetoric while working families in Maryland struggle to keep up with rising costs, broken schools, and a state government increasingly out of touch with rural, suburban, and even urban voters alike.

Moore talks about “leaving no one behind,” yet he has governed with a narrow, ideological lens that leaves many Democrats… and Republicans… feeling invisible. His energy mandates and labor programs are designed for headlines, not households. And under his leadership, the gap between state priorities and ordinary people’s needs has only widened.

Ed Hale represents a different path. One grounded not in theory, but in results. He is not beholden to the activist wing of the party or the donor class. He answers to the people who wake up early, go to work, raise families, and simply want a government that functions. 

Ed Hale is a voice for ordinary Democrats who still believe in fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity, and common-sense governance.  A government that does not overpromise, underdeliver, and engage in academic frolics that end with the middle-class taxpayers paying the tab.

He will not promise you the moon. He will promise you something better: a governor who listens, works, and understands that leadership is about service, not self-promotion. I believe that Ed Hale has the capability to stabilize not only the Democratic Party, but also an out-of-control state bureaucracy.

Maryland Democrats deserve more than a coronation. They deserve a contest. They deserve a choice.  

This time, you will more than likely not just have a candidate. You will have a real choice.

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals.  He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues. 

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